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Recesion Specials Continued! To Make or to Buy – Which is it?

As we all continue to count every penny and hold our breaths while the economy continues on its present track, we start to ask ourselves, “what else can I do to skim a little bit more fat off my budget?” Those who are so inclined come up with the idea that making many of the processed foods we currently purchase is likely to help us reduce our monthly spending on food. We justify this notion that even though the cost of our time should be factored in, the benefits of making your own staple products (health and budget) out-weigh those costs. Of course, if you don’t even have the time, that makes things a little bit more complicated, and just adds to the challenge of not only having to balance a checkbook budget, but a personal time budget as well.

Well, now that you have finally decided that you have the time and are willing to start making your own staple foods (ie: yoghurt, bagels, jam, etc…), the question arises – is it really more cost effective?

Bagels: definitely make them yourself – apparently they taste better and can save up to 87.5% per bagel.

Cream Cheese: buy it – the end result is kind of bland, and takes at least 24 hours to prepare. Plus, it’s hard to find the right kind of rennet (especially kosher) at affordable prices.

Yoghurt: make it – really inexpensive to prepare and the end result is considerably of better quality except up against the imported Greek yoghurt (think Chobani Yoghurt) except the imported stuff is not cheap nor is it very green!

Jam: depends – price of sugar and raw fruit really influence the final costs. While the benefits are that you can make whatever jam you want, especially if you cannot find that kind in the supermarket, but unless the cost of fruit is very inexpensive or free – it may actually be cheaper to buy it in a store.

Crackers: buy – while it is cheaper to make your own crackers, and they do taste good, they lack a certain quality that comes from the manufactured stuff, plus, it’s not that much cheaper.

Granola: depends – well, depending on whose recipe you follow (Jennifer followed Alton Brown’s from the Food Network), while it may not be cheaper than store-bought, it’s a hell of a lot tastier and healthier than what you can buy already made. Jennifer felt it was worth spending the money to make your own.

In the end we learn that in most cases, do-it-yourself cooking not only saves you a lot of money, the quality of the end product is generally much higher than the store-bought, manufactured stuff. Taking this into consideration with the suggestions in Recesion Specials! Location: Home Sweet Home, you can really start saving some money.